With Opening Day drawing near, Young talks offense, rotation, bullpen

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- The Rangers have less than a week left in Arizona before heading back to Arlington for a pair of exhibitions ahead of Opening Day.

In each of the last two years, the Rangers have added big league talent during the last week of camp, including Michael Lorenzen in 2024 and Patrick Corbin in ‘25. The trend likely won’t continue, as the Texas roster looks close to complete as the final day in Surprise nears.

“Part of our job is to continue to monitor the 29 other Spring Trainings,” president of baseball operations Chris Young said. “We've got our scouts covering both Arizona and Florida. We've got our lists of players that have outs and/or may be out of options and movable. We'll stay open-minded and try to put together the best roster we can. But we feel very good about our internal options. Most likely the 26-man roster is here in Spring Training.”

Here are some of the highlights from Young’s chat with the media on Monday afternoon:

The offense
The Rangers’ offensive struggles over the last two seasons have been well-documented. This winter, the front office overhauled the group, trading Marcus Semien for Brandon Nimmo and non-tendering Adolis García and Jonah Heim. In a small sample this spring, it’s paid off.

Over their 9-5 span in Cactus League play prior to Monday night’s 3-2 win over the White Sox, Texas batters have slashed a .291/.398/.512 with 7.38 runs per game, ranking highly among Cactus League clubs in: on-base percentage (1st, .910), OPS (2nd), batting average (3rd) and slugging (3rd). The Rangers have 25 home runs in their last 16 games, including one or more in all but two of those affairs.

“I do know that the quality of the at-bats has been solid all spring,” Young said. “The underlying metrics [have been] really, really good and indicated that the team approach was very positive. Now we have to continue that. The commitment from the players has been tremendous. The messaging has been great. The guys are bought in, and it's been fun to see. We have some different personnel.

“With the profile of players that we have, there's just a little bit less volatility. There's a more reliable skill set that makes it tough on the pitcher. It's not an individual at-bat, but it's a team mindset going up that each person is going to have a quality at-bat. I don't want to over-promise and under-deliver, but what we've seen thus far has been very positive. There's still the season to play, and we need to continue that into the season.”

The fifth starter
The Rangers traded for MacKenzie Gore on Jan. 22, fortifying the rotation with Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Jack Leiter. But that left a sure-fire competition for the final rotation spot among Kumar Rocker, Jacob Latz and a trio of veteran pitchers on non-roster deals in Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber and Ryan Brasier.

Nobody has quite run away with it yet, but there are much worse places to be if you’re the Rangers’ front office.

“I don't want to lose sight of what the fifth-starter role is,” Young said. “We're not looking for a Jacob deGrom-level performance. It's easy to get lost in the weeds. We want them to just keep us in the game, give us 15 outs, and let us turn it over the ‘pen. Manage the game.

“Every one of those guys has done a very good job of doing exactly that this spring. You could say none of them have run away with it, but I'd say they all have done a very serviceable job of what that role is going to ask of them. … They've all put themselves in a position where we could choose any one of them and feel very good about it.”

The bullpen
The signing of Jalen Beeks over the weekend gave the Rangers another solidified veteran in the bullpen, joining Chris Martin, Jakob Junis and Tyler Alexander, as well as Robert Garcia, who figures to get the first opportunity to close games in the regular season.

The last few bullpen spots are still up for the taking during the final week of camp, though a number of guys remain in the mix, like Luis Curvelo (40-man), Cole Winn (40-man), Peyton Gray (non-roster invitee), and Josh Sborz (NRI), and even Brasier and Gomber if they miss out on the final rotation spot.

“Our job as a front office is to try to construct a roster that is prepared to win over the course of a season,” Young said. “There's just a number of variables that go into it, and performance is certainly, if not the most important, one of the most important. But sometimes it's not everything. Sometimes we have to look at the depth and matchups. There's a lot that goes into it, and there's not one perfect way to do it, either. You try to have a good process and make the best decisions possible.”